Dispatches - Bryan Robson in murky deals

[PeterWithe]

Hardly anything earth shattering so far, I hope some of the shit they throw at SHA in the next bit will stick

[Villa'Zawg]

Just mentioned Spurs.

** Bing-bong ** VillaDawg to the thread...

EDIT: woah, that is fucking spooky!

You might know that I like to understand the facts. So I've just done a quick search on here for mentions of Spurs posted by "villadawg" and mentions of Spurs posted by "cdvillafan". 30 each.  ;-)

[PeterWithesShin]

Depressing how little is known about who actually owns clubs.

I'm willing to bet the Fergie connection turns out to be a pile of shit.

[PeterWithesShin]

Typical, I had to take a phone call and missed the last few mins. I saw where they named Sheff Utd as the club, but did they get any further proof on red nose apart from those photos?

[PeterWithe]

Spuriously dragging Fergie into it sprinkled a bit of stardust on a pretty shit programme really, was anyone on here at all surprised by the goings on? Everything was deniable and could easily be put down to misunderstandings. 

[cdbearsfan]

Bit of a damp squib. Looks bad for Robson but Fergie can just say he was being polite to an over-enthusiastic fan. Maybe he was.

[cdward]

Interesting how they mentioned that the "fans can be a problem, so you need to put in a bit of money, so you get them on your side"
That's how i always thought we were viewed, and i mean we as in all football fans.
It's not surprising really though is it, i just kept thinking about Portsmouth, Blues, Notts County and now Leicester, they all fit the bill for these dodgy owners.
Football is being taken away from the fans, there must be a way to claim it back.
We are comparitively lucky with Randy, but he is still in it for the money as was Doug, as is every owner.
It's no surprise the Yanks haved moved into the PL more prominently, i thank God we are not in Blues position.

[dave.woodhall]

Interesting how they mentioned that the "fans can be a problem, so you need to put in a bit of money, so you get them on your side"
That's how i always thought we were viewed, and i mean we as in all football fans.
It's not surprising really though is it, i just kept thinking about Portsmouth, Blues, Notts County and now Leicester, they all fit the bill for these dodgy owners.
Football is being taken away from the fans, there must be a way to claim it back.
We are comparitively lucky with Randy, but he is still in it for the money as was Doug, as is every owner.
It's no surprise the Yanks haved moved into the PL more prominently, i thank God we are not in Blues position.

Of all the criticism that can be hurled at Doug, I think "in it for the money" is a fair way down the list. He made enough of it, but I think that knowing Doug, the sheer egotism and self-publicity were far more important to him.

That programme - a few shysters want to earn some of the massive sums in English football and tell lies to get it. Hold the front page.

[PeterWithesShin]

I was thinking there was going to be some big factual reveal at the end of the show and missed it because of the phone call. I'm guessing by the comments that there wasn't. So apart from Robson not doing himself any favours, it basically shed no light on anything.

[KevinGage]

It's hard to say.  Wasn't he the first club Chairman to pay himself a salary?
And something like 95% of his personal wealth was generated via Aston Villa FC.

The financial aspect was definitely a huge motivation, I'd say.

The kudos and the networking with the great and the good in football was a nice bonus.

[PeterWithe]

The biggest question I had after it is 'What sort of vulgarian keeps answering his phone during dinner with friends or potential business partners?'

[dave.woodhall]

It's hard to say.  Wasn't he the first club Chairman to pay himself a salary?
And something like 95% of his personal wealth was generated via Aston Villa FC.

The financial aspect was definitely a huge motivation, I'd say.

The kudos and the networking with the great and the good in football was a nice bonus.

Doug would have you believe that such was his business acumen, were he not at Villa he would have earned much more as chair of ICI or similar. I may be wrong but I think he's such an egotist that given the choice of wealthy anonymity and being skint but famous, he'd have gone for fame every time.

[Villa'Zawg]

It's hard to say.  Wasn't he the first club Chairman to pay himself a salary?
And something like 95% of his personal wealth was generated via Aston Villa FC.

The financial aspect was definitely a huge motivation, I'd say.

The kudos and the networking with the great and the good in football was a nice bonus.

If it's true that he invested £500k at the beginning of the 80s, that was a large investment into a football club. I don't think even Doug could have known at the time what was coming with Sky 10 years later.

[London Villan]

It's hard to say.  Wasn't he the first club Chairman to pay himself a salary?
And something like 95% of his personal wealth was generated via Aston Villa FC.

The financial aspect was definitely a huge motivation, I'd say.

The kudos and the networking with the great and the good in football was a nice bonus.

If it's true that he invested £500k at the beginning of the 80s, that was a large investment into a football club. I don't think even Doug could have known at the time what was coming with Sky 10 years later.

Without wanting to kick off a Doug thread, he only ever invested his own cash in the late 60's. About £50k at the time (which was a fair amount back then). In the early 80s he just guaranteed the overdraft, then sold the 82 team.

[dave.woodhall]

It's hard to say.  Wasn't he the first club Chairman to pay himself a salary?
And something like 95% of his personal wealth was generated via Aston Villa FC.

The financial aspect was definitely a huge motivation, I'd say.

The kudos and the networking with the great and the good in football was a nice bonus.

If it's true that he invested £500k at the beginning of the 80s, that was a large investment into a football club. I don't think even Doug could have known at the time what was coming with Sky 10 years later.

Without wanting to kick off a Doug thread, he only ever invested his own cash in the late 60's. About £50k at the time (which was a fair amount back then). In the early 80s he just guaranteed the overdraft, then sold the 82 team.

He did use his own money in 1982, but it went to Bendall for the shares rather than to the club.